Warning: Prime Minister David Cameron said Facebook had to prove it was protecting children

David Cameron today challenged Facebook to prove that its system protected children after the site was forced to reinstate a ban on beheading videos.

The Prime Minister led criticism against the social networking site after it lifted a ban on users posting graphic videos of violent killings.

The firm yesterday bowed to pressure from child internet protection campaigners by taking down a graphic video of a woman being beheaded in Mexico.

Facebook’s
unpublicised change in policy came to light after it refused to remove a
57-second video showing a young Mexican woman, her hands tied behind
her back and on her knees, being beheaded by a masked man in broad
daylight. It was posted last week under the title ‘Challenge: Anybody
can watch this video?’.

The
website had earlier begun adding alerts to videos showing decapitations
or other extreme violence, saying: 'Warning! This video contains
extremely graphic content and may be upsetting'.

‘When
we review content that is reported to us, we will take a more holistic
look at the context surrounding a violent image or video,’ a Facebook
spokesman said.

‘Second, we
will consider whether the person posting the content is sharing it
responsibly, such as accompanying the video or image with a warning and
sharing it with an age-appropriate audience.’

Terrible: The filmed executions of people like Ken Bigley would have been allowed to be shown on Facebook after they quietly lifted a ban - now reintroduced

The
change underscores a challenge for Facebook as it seeks to position
itself as the go-to online destination where people share
up-to-the-minute images and discuss breaking news events.

The
US firm acknowledged last night that its previous approach, which
permitted the video of the woman's killing in Mexico to remain on its
site, was flawed.

‘Based on
these enhanced standards, we have re-examined recent reports of graphic
content and have concluded that this content improperly and
irresponsibly glorifies violence. For this reason, we have removed it,’
the company said.

Suicide
prevention charities had denounced the original move to lift the ban on
beheading videos, warning that the clips were ‘psychologically
destructive’ to teenagers.

Others
accused Facebook of double standards for allowing footage of beheadings
but restricting what breastfeeding mothers can post and demanding women
remove pictures of their mastectomy scars.

After the video of the Mexcian woman being beheaded was posted, Facebook users reacted with outrage.

One disgusted viewer commented: ‘Remove this video, too many young innocent minds out there shouldn’t see this.’

Another
wrote: ‘This is absolutely horrible, distasteful and needs to be
removed... I’m very disturbed after seeing a couple of seconds of it.’

Gruesome videos of people being beheaded are to be allowed on Facebook once again. The social network claims that its users should be able to watch and condemn these videos, but not celebrate them

One of Facebook’s advertisers, car-sharing companty ZipCar,
withdrew its adverts in protest, saying: ‘We do not condone this type of
abhorrent content being circulated on Facebook.’

Dr
Arthur Cassidy, of suicide prevention group the Yellow Ribbon Program,
said: ‘It only takes seconds of exposure to such graphic material to
leave a permanent trace – particularly in a young person’s mind.’

FACEBOOK RULES: BEHEADINGS ARE ALLOWED BUT BREASTS ARE BANNED

Facebook may now allow videos of people being beheaded, but there are a number of subjects and clips it will not allow to be published on in its site.

Facebook has a strict policy against the sharing of pornographic content and any explicitly sexual content where a child is involved.

Elsewhere, the site imposes ‘limitations on the display of nudity’ but doesn’t ban it outright - it depends on the context and circumstance.

Female nipples, as a rule, will be removed but male nipples are allowed. A photo was famously removed last year when an elbow was mistaken for a female nipple, before being reinstated.

Breastfeeding images were removed in 2012, but Facebook’s Community Guidelines now states the site ‘respects people’s right to share content of personal importance’ and makes explicit reference to breastfeeding.

The pictures are allowed if the child is seen ‘actively nursing’ but may be removed if it shows the nipple. Children playing in the bath are accepted as long as they are not graphic and explicit, while sculpture and art work that depicts the naked body is allowed, but real-life images and similar poses are not.

Another photo famously taken down showed Kylie Minogue holding a teddy bear with her microphone positioned in such a way, between the bear’s legs, that made it look phallic. Facebook removed it for violating the use of ‘photos that contain nudity, drug use or violence’.

Any video that condones violence, threatens or is abusive and bullying towards another person or promotes criminal activity is prohibited. Any promotion or encouragement of self-mutilation, eating disorders of drug abuse is similarly banned.

Sharing graphic content for 'sadistic pleasure' is prohibited, yet if the content is shared in the process of reporting current events it is be allowed as long as it balances ‘the needs of a diverse community.’

Facebook monitors photos, but also relies on its users to report content they feel should be removed. If a photo is under investigation it may be temporarily removed while Facebook looks into the complaint but will be reinstated if it is found not to have breached the code.